|
|
Introduction
Richard J. Smith
I know that the center of all under Heaven is to the north of Yan [northernmost China] and to the south of Yue [southernmost China].
我知天下之中央, 燕之北, 越之南是也.
—Hui Shi 惠施 (ca. 370–310 BCE)1
Preliminary Remarks
Like Hui Shi, we consider the East Asian world to be without a single hegemonic center. To be sure, there have always been ways to identify a center, linguistically as well as politically. For instance, “China” has long self-identified and also been identified by other states in East Asia as the “Middle Kingdom” (中國), even as its boundaries shifted and its power and influence waxed and waned. These same countries (known in English as Japan, Korea, the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and Vietnam)2 also readily